Ancient Blood Pool

Han Qingxue shot Lu Chen a startled look. "It seems you've visited their camp. I suspect Ji Wujue wants to rise to power by borrowing the Ancient Demon's strength!"

"Release the Ancient Demon?"

Han Qingxue shook her head, indicating that she did not know.

"Oh, right, Miss Han, do you have any blood jade? If you do..."

"I'm sorry, but no!" Han Qingxue smiled apologetically. "We used it all. In a place like this, every extra bit of strength means another shred of hope for survival."

"However, you can take a look at Nether Blood Valley. You might encounter some opportunity there, but watch out for King Yanbei's people. They are often active there. It's marked on the map!"

"King Yanbei? Aren't they from the Blood Spirit Sect?"

"Oh, they take turns guarding it. Right now, it seems to be the Blood Spirit Sect's people!"

Lu Chen cupped his hands slightly, turned and took two steps, then suddenly said:

"Miss Han, I'd like to ask you about someone. Do you know a person called Yun Niang?"

"I've heard of her, but I've never seen her. It seems she once worked as a ferryman, then vanished without a trace. What, do you know her?"

Lu Chen nodded. "You could say we're friends."

"If I hear any news of her, I'll let you know... Where are you from?" Han Qingxue abruptly changed the subject.

"Yanjing, Tianyan Academy!"

"You were tricked into going there?"

"Huh, huh?" Lu Chen froze, then stammered, "You've met Senior Tianyan?"

"Hmph, that old man is no good. I nearly fell for his trick and entered Tianyan. I heard there isn't even anywhere to live there!"

Lu Chen smiled awkwardly. "That's true, but things are different now. It's recovered quite a bit!"

A glint flashed through Han Qingxue's eyes. "Would Tianyu agree to that?"

Lu Chen slapped his chest. "I fought my way out and brought back nine Will Statues!"

Han Qingxue looked him over twice, then broke into a smile. Lu Chen felt as though the air around them had suddenly become lively.

"I couldn't tell. You're quite impressive!"

Lu Chen laughed heartily. "I've always been impressive, wherever I go. Also, Miss Han, you look very beautiful when you smile, haha..."

His voice still lingered in the air, but Lu Chen had already vanished from the cellar. After his laughter faded, only four words remained: "Until fate lets us meet again."

At first, Han Qingxue did not understand what Lu Chen meant. Once she came to her senses, she spat lightly and cursed, "Lecher!"

Nether Blood Valley lay northwest of the Blood Fiend Battlefield, hemmed in by two mountains shaped like fangs.

Gale Force howled at the valley entrance, whipping up blood mist that condensed into twisted human faces. Their shrieks stabbed painfully into the eardrums.

Lu Chen stood atop the ridge and looked down. The blood pool at the valley floor spanned a thousand zhang, its viscous bloody water churning as though it were boiling.

Ghastly white bone fragments floated on its surface. Every so often, bubbles burst, and the splashing droplets corroded bowl-sized pits into the rocks.

"Ancient Blood Pool..." Lu Chen lowered his head and glanced at the map.

The bloodline resonance rising from the pool's depths made his heart race, as though his blood was about to boil.

After skirting several depressions concealing poisonous miasma, he suddenly caught sight of several black tents standing east of the blood pool.

More than thirty black-robed cultivators outside the tents were controlling Blood Puppets to dredge for blood jade. Red light flashed from the puppets' chests, their arms transforming into iron shovels as they mechanically scooped bloody mud from the pool's edge into iron buckets.

Blood mist steamed from a bronze cauldron in the center of the camp, its body carved with mysterious sigils meant to suppress resentful souls.

"Blood Spirit Sect members?" Lu Chen narrowed his eyes and sneered.

Three Golden Core Realm cultivators stood guard, while the rest were mostly at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

Such a lineup could stop others, but it could not stop a fiendish star like him.

Three clones split from his body, each carrying a furnace as they silently approached.

His main body circled around behind the camp, dark saber qi surging within the Soul Severing Saber like a venomous snake poised to strike.

Just then, a foul wind swept through, and every Blood Puppet froze at once.

Now!

Four figures sprang up like thunderbolts.

The clone on the left hurled out its furnace. Energy erupted from its mouth, blasting five Foundation Establishment cultivators and their puppets into pulp.

The clone on the right swept out with saber qi. Before the tent flap could even fall, the cultivators inside had already been severed from head to body.

The central clone was even fiercer. It directly smashed through a Golden Core cultivator's protective Spiritual Light, then inverted the furnace and forcibly dragged him inside.

"Enemy attack!" The remaining two Golden Core cultivators' eyes split with fury. One formed hand seals and summoned the Nine Yin Soul Locking Chain, while the other waved a banner and called forth a hundred rotting corpses.

Yet Lu Chen's main body had already flashed to the bronze cauldron. The tip of his saber flicked off its lid, revealing the rolling bloody mud within.

"Good stuff!" He slapped the Azure Dragon cauldron.

The bronze cauldron, along with the bloody mud inside it, vanished, all of it taken into the Asura Furnace.

As he turned, he slashed apart the incoming Soul Locking Chain with one stroke, then spun and kicked away the rotting corpses. The three clones seized the chance to encircle their targets.

Furnace energy erupted with a rumble. Before the two Golden Core cultivators could crush their transmission talismans, the blast sent them plunging violently into the blood pool.

Amid miserable screams, their fleshly bodies vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into ghastly white skeletons that sank into the blood pool.

Seeing this, Lu Chen shuddered violently. He immediately steadied his mind and, together with his three clones, began a merciless harvest of those remaining.

Half an incense stick later, nothing remained of the camp but scorched marks covering the ground.

Lu Chen weighed the newly refined Golden Core fragments in the furnace, then raised his eyes toward the churning blood pool.

This blood pool was somewhat terrifying. Even Golden Core experts could not climb back out once they fell in.

Splash!

He leaped into the blood pool. The instant the viscous bloody water touched his body, its corrosive power gnawed at his bones like ten thousand ants.

His protective blood qi hissed, while his skin visibly rotted away and dissolved.

The Qi and Blood Furnace began turning with a roar. Pure qi and blood surged from his dantian into every limb and bone, and newly grown flesh engaged in a tug-of-war with the corrosive force.

At the same time, the Myriad Manifestations Furnace formed a phantom that enveloped him.

The corrosive power was blocked outside, able only to send layer after layer of ripples through the Myriad Manifestations Furnace's phantom.

Joy surged in Lu Chen's heart.

After diving ten zhang, the pressure suddenly increased.

Countless transparent worms drifted through the bloody water and lunged toward him.

Yet the moment they touched the furnace phantom, they were all refined into pure energy.

After descending another twenty zhang, he suddenly saw blood-colored crystals carpeting the bottom of the pool. The largest was as big as a millstone, with profound patterns naturally formed across its surface.

"A complete blood jade!"

Lu Chen's heart trembled wildly.

The furnace swelled explosively, like a giant whale swallowing the sea.

The blood-colored energy spilling from the shattered crystal flooded into his meridians. Deep within his body, heat gradually built up, and his skin took on a jade-like luster.

His bones crackled explosively, and the physical strength of nine hundred oxen climbed step by step.

One thousand, one thousand two hundred, one thousand five hundred...

It did not stop until it surged to two thousand.

When he clenched his fist, there was a boom, and enormous waves rose from the blood pool.

The power of one grip was terrifying beyond measure.

With the level enhancement added, his strength had reached a horrifying four thousand oxen.

It had nearly reached the power of a peak Golden Core Realm expert.

Whoosh!

Lu Chen took a deep breath.

Just as he was about to seize the last piece of blood jade, his expression suddenly changed.

The rock layer at the bottom of the pool collapsed with a boom, and a massive claw covered in scales reached out from the blood-colored vortex.

The pressure that spilled from it was like mountains toppling over, forcing the furnace back into his body.

"Ancient Demon Remnant Limb?" Lu Chen's pupils contracted sharply. The newly born power in his bloodline formed a vortex in his palm.

He brought his fingers together into a fist. The qi and blood throughout his body surged into his right arm like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, while his flesh burst apart because it could not bear such vast energy.

Earth Shattering Collapse Fist!

The instant his fist struck the scales, dazzling blood light exploded.

The violent fist force surged through the gaps between the claw's scales, plowing spiderweb-like cracks through a hundred zhang of rock.

The giant claw howled and withdrew into the vortex, while the shattered scales were swept into the furnace and refined.

The backlash erupted as well. Lu Chen's entire right arm twisted out of shape, all its flesh gone.

Ghastly white bones hung with a few strands of blood, and the excruciating pain darkened his vision.

The crucial part was the blood water's terrifying corrosion. In only an instant, his entire body became drenched in blood.